Mathematics requires Faith.

Sure there’s faith.  Belief in a a system is faith in the system.  A beautiful argument even made mathematically is based on the faith of accuracy in mathematics.  And, indeed, mathematics is useful.  But usefulness for humans is one thing, unwavering absolute truth is another.  Belief or faith in the idea of absolute Truth – some image of reality that is perfect and without Flaw – comes from Plato – perhaps even earlier – the dualist idea that “There is the perfect reality that we can only imagine, and here are the shadows on the wall which is all we can see”.

But until we can have a point of view of the universe that includes all perspectives – and not just our little human one that happens to work for us at this time, on this little planet – its hubris for us to believe that “we’re at a point in history that all things will soon be known through science” – or mathematics or any endevour.

There will always be more discoveries.  And new ideas will overthrow old ones.

None of it is static.  Even the idea of the idea is a human construct – there may be no such thing as an idea at all – perfected somethings existing in nowhereland that perhaps if we work really hard at it we may have control over.  That’s an act of Faith. Science is a very practical religious doctrine based primarily on Aristotle and the idea that the mind is superior to the body and that consensus of opinion through repeated measurement is a valid measure of truth.  It is the idea that we are somehow separate from the Universe we study and able to isolate and generalize.

Does it work?  Certainly!  is it practical?  Does it get us places – give us new things to do?  Absolutely.  I have nothing against the practice of the Sciences.

It’s the absolute faith and trust in Science that makes it a religious doctrine for some people.  I have a religious doctrine of extreme Skepticism and that nothing is sacred, anything can and should be deconstructed, especially those truths which hold near and dear to us.

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